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Former Liberal MP Raj Grewal’s invites to Trudeau India receptions scrutinized at trial

Former Liberal MP Raj Grewal despatched the names of 100 individuals he wished to ask to receptions with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in India in 2018, and nobody on his checklist raised any purple flags with Trudeau’s employees earlier than the journey befell, an Ottawa courtroom heard Monday.

Grewal, 36, is dealing with two costs of breach of belief, associated to loans he sought from buddies, household and different associates to assist pay for a playing behavior that racked up thousands and thousands of {dollars} in debt.

These costs allege Grewal, utilizing his political workplace, lied to acquire loans, and that he used his workplace to acquire loans for private profit.

Grewal has denied any legal wrongdoing. In 2018, he mentioned he had sought remedy for a playing habit, obtained loans solely from family and friends, and that every one had been repaid.

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The Crown is alleging that Grewal sought the loans from individuals in alternate for securing them entry to the India journey, or for work on immigration recordsdata.

Grewal was elected in 2015 in a Brampton, Ont., driving, however parted methods with the Liberals in 2018 because the playing downside got here to mild. He sat as an impartial for nearly a yr however didn’t run once more within the 2019 federal election.

He was initially charged by the RCMP in September 2020 with 4 counts of breach of belief and one depend of fraud, however solely two of the breach of belief costs stay.

On Monday, because the trial started its second week, Crown legal professional Tim Wightman walked a former Liberal political staffer by way of emails and paperwork that outlined the method by which MPs might invite individuals to occasions on the India journey.

Vandana Kattar Miller, who in 2018 was a senior aide to Innovation Minister Navdeep Bains, served as a liaison between the Prime Minister’s Workplace and Liberal MPs who wished to take part within the India tour in February 2018.

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That nine-day journey was tense as Indian politicians accused Trudeau of sympathizing with Sikh separatist extremists. It fell utterly over a cliff when it got here to mild that invites to 2 receptions with Trudeau had been issued to a person with Sikh extremist ties, who had been convicted in Canada of trying to homicide an Indian politician in 1986.

However in court docket, the Crown’s focus is on who Grewal placed on the invite checklist.

Kattar Miller mentioned there have been two bigger receptions — one in Delhi and one in Mumbai — and MPs who wished to hitch might submit names of individuals they wished to have invited to the receptions.

Greater than a dozen Liberal MPs joined the journey and their invite checklist collectively takes up greater than 12 pages. Grewal’s preliminary checklist had 100 names on it.

She mentioned there was additionally a extra intimate meet-and-greet with Trudeau in Delhi to which MPs might invite as much as 5 individuals. That occasion would permit invitees an opportunity to satisfy Trudeau and have their picture taken with him.

Throughout cross-examination, Grewal’s defence legal professional confirmed with Kattar Miller that MPs have been capable of submit as many names for the invitation checklist as they wished and that there have been no restrictions on whom the MPs might invite.

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She additionally confirmed to him that she had carried out a “high-level” evaluation of the names submitted and none of them raised any alarm bells.

“I can’t recall something,” she mentioned.

The trial is anticipated to final till late July.



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